IU women's basketball makes first 15 shots, breezes past Michigan for 11th straight win

BLOOMINGTON — IU women’s basketball improved to 3-0 in Big Ten play with a dominant victory over Michigan, 80-59, on Thursday night at Assembly Hall.

The Hoosiers are 12-1 on the season with an 11-game winning streak, while Michigan dropped to 11-4 and 2-1 in the Big Ten.

Here are three observations from the game:

An offensive onslaught

IU wanted to put any uncertainty of its dominance in the Big Ten to bed.

Indiana came out in full throttle against Michigan, smattering the unsuspecting Wolverines — who had just beaten No. 20 Ohio State, 69-60, last week — with an offensive onslaught.

Michigan came into the game 38th in the country in defensive scoring — best in the Big Ten — allowing an average of 55.2 points per game. But that didn’t faze Indiana.

The Hoosiers went a perfect 13-for-13 from the field in the first quarter, including 6-of-6 from beyond the arc, for a 36-17 lead. It was Indiana’s best offensive quarter since February 2022, when it tallied 42 points in the fourth quarter against Iowa. Their perfect field-goal shooting, though, was something the Hoosiers didn't realize.

"I think we had a sense that we were hot on offense, you could feel the energy from the fans," senior Mackenzie Holmes said. "But I don't think we knew about the makes and misses."

The offense slowed in the second quarter, and Michigan won it 17-15.

IU eclipsed Michigan’s defensive scoring average at the 7:57 mark of the third quarter, reaching 57 points with a 3-pointer from Yarden Garzon.

"Nothing surprises me with this group as far as their ability to knock down shots, but we knew that we were eventually going to cool off," head coach Teri Moren said. "Then, Michigan settled in, and the great thing is that we built a lead that they had to chase the rest of the game."

Sydney Parrish leads charge

Lately, it seems as if each game, a different player has a standout, close to career-best performance for the Hoosiers. Against Bowling Green on Dec. 22, Sara Scalia had 32 points — her most in a Hoosiers uniform. Against Illinois on Dec. 31, it Chloe Moore-McNeil returned to form.

More: Teri Moren told Chloe Moore-McNeil to be more aggressive. Message received vs. Illinois.

On Thursday, it was Sydney Parrish.

Parrish came out firing — even more than her teammates. She made three early 3-pointers and picked up 11 points by the 3-minute mark of the first quarter.

"I think Sydney brought a lot of energy, especially in that first quarter," Holmes said. "She brought a lot of energy and kind of got our momentum going from the start."

While the senior had to sit part of the second quarter because of foul trouble, she did not miss a shot in the first half, going 5-for-5 from the field and 3-for-3 from beyond the arc.

Parrish played sparingly in the second half, however, as she picked up her fourth foul on an offensive off-ball call at the 5-minute mark of the third. Freshman Julianna LaMendola picked up a lot of Parrish’s minutes, finishing with five points and two rebounds in 11 minutes.

Parrish had 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting and five assists in 24 minutes.

Hoosiers unhappy with foul calls

As the third quarter wore on, both coach Teri Moren and the Assembly Hall crowd became more angry with the referees.

The refs called seven fouls on IU in the third quarter — including two on Parrish, which sent her to the bench until the middle of the fourth quarter. Three of those calls came within a 50-second span near the end of the quarter, when both Julianna LaMendola and Chloe Moore-McNeil were called for offensive fouls.

The crowd's boos reached a crescendo when Lilly Meister was called for a foul after going for an offensive rebound near the end of the quarter. While Meister was near No. 33 Taylor Williams, who was also going for the rebound, while she was called for the foul, the referees had No. 44 Cameron Williams go to the line. The referees reviewed the foul after Williams' first shot, and after talking with Moren, who was irate with their officiating, still allowed Williams to shoot a second free throw.

"You have to adapt to the officials," Moren said. "Sometimes young people, my kids have a hard time doing that. The stoppage of play is hard, especially when you're a team that likes to get up and down as much as we do."

At the end of the third quarter a minute later, the crowd jeered at the officials, with some calling out "Call it both ways" and "You suck." Moren talked with the officials again after the quarter about the calls, and walked away looking displeased.

Moren said postgame that two officials saw a different Michigan player draw the foul, so that is why they went to the monitor to check. She also said she is going to get clarification from the Big Ten on what should happen when two officials have differing opinions and the wrong player possibly made a free throw.

Still, the Hoosiers stayed vigilant in their game plan for the night.

"I don't think foul trouble necessarily change our game plan," Holmes said. "I think the game plan was just that we had to win the offensive boards, we had to win the ball screen coverage, and we had to make everything as tough as possible for them."

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana women's basketball uses dominant first quarter to beat Michigan